A United Nations independent human rights expert has urged Gabon to adopt measures to tackle trafficking in children from West and Central African States, and address traditional and cultural factors that exacerbate the problem.

Vatican City, May 9, 2012 / 01:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A young English woman who was forced into a life of prostitution by a human trafficker lauded the Vatican for addressing the issue by hosting a recent conference.

I must tell you that in Mauritania, freedom is total: freedom of thought, equality - of all men and women of Mauritania. Equality for all people. There is a phenomenon to which you are probably alluding, that has existed in Mauritania, that has existed in other countries, which is slavery.

The US office says child-trafficking victims in NZ engage in prostitution and are sometimes controlled by gangs. File photo / NZ Herald

A senior United States government official claims underage girls are subjected to sex trafficking and migrants trapped into forced labour here, and describes New Zealand's way of defining human trafficking as "misplaced".

A recent investigation of 600 brothels by the Greman Federal Criminal Police uncovered at least 170 Nigerian women working illegally as prostitutes. Authorities determined that 50 of them were victims of human trafficking.